


Just Another Day

by Black_Calliope



Category: The Pacific - Fandom
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-07-08
Updated: 2011-07-08
Packaged: 2017-10-21 03:57:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 811
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/220650
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Black_Calliope/pseuds/Black_Calliope
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The sky might be endless and dark, but he is not alone under it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Just Another Day

They’re all nested in their foxholes.

The night air around them is thick with humidity and smoke and really, the sky looks too big and a bit scary from here. Blue and dark. Dark is never good, Japs like to move in the dark; sneak at your back, jump on you and rip your throat in a bloody second. Just a flash of steel against morbid flesh.

So no, Eugene doesn't like this enormous, suffocating blackness above himself, but still he keeps staring at it, trying to distract himself from what's around. Anything to steal a moment of peace from this living hell.

But then someone shouts an order far away from where they are. A shot follows a moment after, the sound of it breaking the apparent quiet of the night before disappearing as quickly as it came.

Against his leg Snafu moves nervously in his sleep, the helmet threatening to slip away from his head at any moment and his rifle still in his relaxed hands, pressing against Eugene's thigh. His calf thrown over Eugene's knee, stealing heat and maybe a bit of comfort.

Really, Eugene should be trying to get some sleep instead of lying here. It's not like they get many occasions to rest and soon the sun will break the horizon line once more and the world around will again be a mess of shouted sounds and-

"Gene?"

He pauses in the middle of his thinking, throwing a look at his mate's face, with his eyes still closed and a hint of a smirk on his lips, and he wonders if he’s just starting to imagine things like Daniels.

Maybe soon he’ll start counting Japs like a fucking madman, or shoot invisible enemies, just because he’s surrounded and if he doesn't fire they’ll kill him and he’ll never come back to Mobile, he’ll never see his home again, and he will never get to pet his dog again. Oh. Thing is that his dog’s already dead, and he‘s probably gonna follow him wherever it is you go in the afterlife, gonna get shot and left back by his buddies, rotting in a damn field on this fucking island and Sid will laugh a bitter laugh. Tell Eugene’s mother that he knew that he was too nerveless for a marine, and everyone will agree that he never should have applied in the first place and then forget about the little poor redhead that died on a nameless Island in the fucking Pacific-

"Hey, come back from wherever ya are, will ya?"

And then the feeling of a hand on his shoulder shakes him, the world suddenly coming back to focus again. Sledge finds himself clinging to Snafu's arm, gulping to inhale air he didn't know he needed until now.

Snafu's eyes are now open – yeah, that I’m-creeping-over-you kind of open that drove Eugene mad the first days on Pavuvu – and searching Sledge’s face for something that can help him understand what the fucking fuck did just happen. On the other side, as if from a weird, totally fucked up mirror, Eugene stares right back, eyes wide open and chest rising fast.

Down. Down. Down. He was falling deep and fast, like a marionette with its strings cut, and the dark seemed like a good place to be in, a safe hole to crawl into and hide forever, until the world was just a rotten puddle and everything would be silent and dead. But then-

He shivers.

He was sure that no one could bring him back, so fucking sure.

Nevertheless he’s been grounded again, taken and dragged back by force and this wasn’t supposed to happen, because no one cares, no one _should_. And still he’s here again.

"I'm... I’m alright,” he finally manages to whisper, blood still pounding in his temples.

Snafu eyes him with a suspicious glance for a moment more, then lets go without saying a word and comes back to his sitting position.

Eugene probably shouldn’t notice how his companion’s shoulder is pressing against his, his head leaning a bit against the helmet, weighing on it just that much enough to let him know that he is there.

The sky might be endless and dark, but he is not alone under it.

It’s just a matter of minutes before the sun comes tickling the edges of their foxhole, just a faint light dancing around them. Not too far away a sergeant shouts to the men to get up, it’s finally time to go kick some nips’ asses.

Snafu throws a side glance to him, his lips curled in his usual grin against a just-lit cigarette. “Anotha day on vacation, ain’t it?” slurs lazily before standing up.

Eugene chuckles a bit looking up at him, the fog of the night already dissolved from around them and from his mind.

Oh, yeah, sure it is.


End file.
